Build It Up
by StarvingLunatic
Summary: Pariah series finale. Shego and Tatsu search for a way to occupy their time while their girlfriends are busy with school. They end up going into business together to build a better future for themselves.
1. Bright Ideas

I don't own these characters; Disney does. I do own Trin, Shin, and Tatsu, though.

A/N: Hi, folks. I wanted to give this series a proper finale. I hope you like it.

Build It Up

1: Bright Ideas

Shego growled as she punched the heavy bag with all of her might. The smack of her fist echoed through the place, busting the bag wide open. Gym personnel crowded around her as sand gushed onto the floor, hissing at Shego in a way they could not, but she ignored them and the busted bag. _Damn it_. She knew what would happen now. Pushing her sweat soaked hair from her forehead, Shego scanned the area for Tatsu. She did not see Tatsu and groaned. _Why the hell does she keep going back to the corny ass treadmill? _Boredom was a hell of a thing.

"Hey, guys, bill me for the bag," Shego said as she walked away from the scene, wiping sweat from her bare midriff with a towel. She tossed the towel behind, not caring where it landed.

"We will and you don't come back here. We're sick of you breaking things." She imagined a few employees shaking their fists at her, but she did not bother to turn to see.

Shego shrugged. It made no difference to her. She did not care about the gym. She just needed something to do with her life. This filled the gap for a while. Now, it was time to find something else. _You act like that's easy. How long did it take your dumb ass to think to go to a gym?_

Marching to the front of the gym, she spotted Tatsu on a treadmill, jogging with her headphones on, blocking out the world. Shego shook her head as she saw a couple of women standing by the treadmill and gawking at Tatsu. If Tatsu was anyone else, she would assume Tatsu did this for the attention, as she never failed to gain a small audience on the treadmill. She tended to run for hours, leaving those around her in awe.

"Maybe she 's training for a marathon," One of the women said to the other. Their eyes never left Tatsu, one checking out the cuts of her arms, which were on full display thanks to her wearing a tight tank top, while the other's gaze was locked on Tatsu's ass, not as easy to see in her baggy, grey sweatpants. Shego made a face like she was about to vomit, but no one noticed.

Shego moved, standing where Tatsu could see her. Tatsu raised an eyebrow as sweat dripped down her flushed face. Shego shrugged and Tatsu removed her earphones.

"Broke something?" Tatsu asked, panting in time with her feet hitting the treadmill.

"Yeah. You got an audience." Shego pointed to the ladies behind Tatsu.

Tatsu did not bother to turn around, used to it by now. She was not there for admiration. They were there to kill time. Their girlfriends were at school and they had nothing better to do.

"Ready to go?" Tatsu asked.

Shego threw her hands up. "Might as well. They kicked me out."

Tatsu hopped off the treadmill as she pocketed her earbuds. And just like that, the gym was done with. They did not even bother to change their clothes there. Tatsu had to put on her coat, but that was about all. They walked to their building. Tatsu did not say a word, even though Shego assumed she had to be cold. It was "see your breath" weather, but Tatsu's coat seemed to keep her warm enough. Shego's powers made sure she stayed warm all the time.

"What's with you and the treadmill at the gym?" Shego asked, needing something to fill the cold air.

Tatsu shrugged. "Block out the world. Music, stare ahead, and pretend no one else exists."

Shego chuckled. "That's why I like the heavy bag. Well, and I get to hit something. Always good to get that frustration out."

Tatsu sighed. "Life is frustrating."

That sucked all the conversation out of Shego. It was too true at the moment. They returned to their homes to shower and then met back up on the living room couch in Trin's apartment, wearing almost the same gear they had when they were at the gym. Shego flopped down on the couch, damp hair from the shower slapping against the cool leather. Tatsu curled up in an armchair and reach for a magazine on the coffee table. Shego turned on the television while Tatsu flipped through an auto magazine. It was boring. Shego let loose a loud groan.

"I'm so sick of this!" Shego smacked the sofa cushion.

Tatsu arched an eyebrow. "Sick of what?"

"This! Us." Shego motioned between the two of them with one hand. "We don't have lives outside of our girlfriends. You haven't even looked for a new job in two weeks!" They were beyond in a rut. It was pathetic.

Tatsu ran her hand through her hair. "I'm rethinking my approach. I keep getting fired, so I gotta do something different."

"Well, I gotta do something point blank. I can't take years of this while Kimmie goes to school. This is just boring." Shego let loose a moan that sounded like a noise a dying moose would make. She would slit her throat if they had live this way for a few more weeks. She definitely would not make it years.

"Got any ideas or you just planning to whine about it?"

Shego thought on it for a moment. "Maybe we could start a gym. I mean, that's what I do in my spare time and you come with me a lot." When Tatsu was not busy on her way to get fired from a job, she spent most of her time with Shego. Shego did not even have the luxury of working for a little bit. All she had was time on her hands.

"Yeah, until you break stuff and get us banned." Tatsu brushed something off of her sweatpants.

Shego curled her lip. "It's not my fault craftsmanship isn't a thing anymore. Maybe that could be our gimmick. Our equipment never breaks." It could work. It would give her something to do. She did not need idle hands.

Tatsu looked skeptical, pursing her lips for a long moment. "Yeah, but you're the only person worried about breaking gym equipment. The rest of us do just fine."

Shego frowned. Tatsu had a point. Still, she needed something to do to pass the time or she would go mad. Or worse, she would go bad. Kim would not be happy to find her breaking the law because she needed something to do. Temptation was great.

"Tats, you gotta help me figure out something to do. The last time I was this bored, I sold myself as a mercenary!" In hindsight, it worked out, but she could not see it working that well a second time.

Tatsu looked at her as if she was insane and maybe she was, but so was the company she kept. "Is it that serious?"

"Yes!" Shego was ready to claw her own eyes out.

Tatsu sighed and scratched her forehead. "Fine. You want to start a business?"

Shego shrugged. "It's something to do and stay out of trouble."

"So, think about what you're into and you make your business about that, like when I had my garage. I like working on machines."

Shego groaned and rubbed her face with both hands as she tried to think of something. She could not think of anything she wanted to do in a business. But, she needed something to do with her time and then she looked at Tatsu.

"Hey! What if we went into business together?" Shego snapped her fingers. It was the perfect solution for both of them.

Tatsu arched an eyebrow. "A business doing what? Who's giving us money to open a business?"

Shego scoffed and waved the question off. "Money's not a problem and we can open your garage!" She thought it was so obvious, but from the way Tatsu had not moved, she was not so sure. Scowling, she leaned in Tatsu's direction. "Okay, silent wonder, my psychic abilities with you are fairly limited. You don't like the idea?"

Tatsu rubbed her chin. "No, I'd love to be able to do it, but having a business isn't real easy, especially when you're just starting out."

"Tell me about it. Tell me about what it's like to have a business." Shego felt like they would make the business thing work and save themselves so much grief. She turned the television off and focused on Tatsu, who closed her magazine.

Tatsu took a breath and rubbed her palms together. It took her a moment to get started. "Well, first thing, there's a lot of car shops around here. We'd have a lot of competition."

"Which I remember from my forced economics class is actually a good thing."

"Yeah, for people buying stuff. Not so great if you're trying to make a living selling junk. So, like, if we started a garage, why would people come to us over the dozens of other places offering the same stuff? Especially since those places would have more experience than us."

Shego nodded. That made a lot of sense. "Why the hell don't you talk more often? You're damn insightful. Tell me more. I mean, your garage was successful, right?"

Tatsu ran a hand through her hair and twisted her mouth up for a long second. "I didn't really set out to have the garage. When I got to high school, I used to help fix cars in the parking lot if someone had a problem. Kids just started bringing me their cars. I wasn't really hung up on cars until them."

Shego did not know that. "What did you like before cars?"

Tatsu shrugged. "I just liked messing with stuff. Take 'em apart, build 'em back, and sometimes add features to improve them or turn them into something else. The car thing got me when I realize I could make money off of them. First time a kid handed me money for changing his damn taillight, I realized I didn't have to stay at home anymore and listen to my dad complain or go to school and be bored."

"Dropped out?" She knew Tatsu never finished high school. She just did not know how long it took.

There was a nod. "Tenth grade. But, probably barely had enough credits to be considered a second semester freshman. Found an abandoned garage-like thing and went to work."

Shego leaned forward, wanting to hear more. Tatsu never opened up like this. She was probably more interested in the business idea than she even thought. If not that, then the real Tatsu got abducted by aliens. Both seemed plausible.

"And the garage took off?" Shego asked.

Tatsu scowled. "Hell, no! I starved for months. I didn't have a concept of money, didn't know what I was supposed to charge, and it took me way too long to figure out I could get pieces from the junkyard. To this day, I don't know how I didn't die before things got better."

"So, how'd you'd end up working on street racers?"

"Once I got into cars, I kinda liked 'em and thought I needed to learn more. First stop was the junkyard to take apart as many cars as they'd let me. Once I felt like I knew enough, I hit the races with a guy I was dating, who loved the damn things. I didn't get the hype, but whatever and one night a dude was having a breakdown because his engine basically blew up. I knew the guy, so he let me check it out. I fixed it. Not in time to get him in the race, but enough for him to decide he wanted me working on his car rather than the person he had before."

Shego was a little surprised to hear Tatsu dated a guy at some point in her life, but that was not the important thing in the story. She had gotten a chance to show off her skills. "And then everybody wanted you?"

Tatsu shook her head. "No. Not at first. Most of them had a guy they trusted with their car or whatever."

This did not make any sense to Shego. "Then what the hell? You clearly didn't starve to death." At some point in time, Tatsu had to be a success, but she did not sound like it. Her business had to take off, but maybe she was being modest, as Tatsu could sometimes be.

"It happened little by little. First guy's car started running better with me and then he won. Other people started coming to me after that. But, it wasn't a lot and since I was a girl and they were mostly dudes and they had a lot of doubt, even as I fixed stuff. They always had crazy requests and at the start they'd drop me for the smallest things."

"But, you kept at it?"

Tatsu blew out a breath. "Didn't have a choice. Trying to avoid that whole starving situation. Eventually, I just got really good at it and the few guys who stuck with me started winning more, so more racers came to me. In the end, I just offered something other mechanics didn't and I think it came from me experimenting on busted cars, so I could come up with different stuff."

Shego rubbed her chin in thought. "So, you offered something no other mechanic offered?" There was an angle there they might be able to exploit if Tatsu was as good as Shego thought she was.

Tatsu shrugged. "I guess."

"Be right back!" Shego took off for her apartment. She had the perfect idea for her and Tatsu to open a business. They could beat her boredom and Tatsu could finally have a job for longer than three weeks. It was brilliant!

She tore through the bookshelf, hoping Kim had not thrown the damn binder out. Her fingers grazed the cover and she let a victory whoop. But, then it occurred to her to check and make sure it was the right book. She pumped her fist in the air.

"We are in business." She headed back down the hall to Tatsu. She dumped the binder on the coffee table.

Tatsu arched an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Our business. You just like building stuff, right? Like the Possible twins?" Shego asked.

"Yeah. Didn't I say that?"

"Think you could build this?" Shego pushed the binder in Tatsu's direction.

Tatsu leaned over to see the page. "The hell is this? A hover board?"

"Yeah, it's our product. No one else is making or selling actual hover boards." They would be able to make a ton of money, if Tatsu could actually pull off making the damn thing. It would give them something to do and keep Shego from losing her entire mind.

Tatsu studied the pages for a long moment. "Where'd you get blueprints for a hover board?"

Shego snorted. Where else would she get such blueprints? "Drakken. I took a bunch of his plan books to make sure he didn't get them if he ever got out. I figured it would take him a while to do any real evil if he had to stop and think of devices for his schemes. Anyway, the important thing is, we've got it. Think you could make it?"

Tatsu ran her finger along the blueprint. "I dunno. I don't think he finished this."

"What makes you say that?"

"See here?" Tatsu pointed down to a rough circle sketch in the corner. "He didn't write an explanation on how it would hover. He just wrote 'anti-gravity thingy' and a bunch of question marks."

Shego groaned. "Damn it, Doctor D. Still screwing me over from jail." She should not be surprised he half-assed his plan books like he did everything else.

"Maybe it can't be done."

Shego's face fell into a deadpan. "Keep your defeatist attitude to yourself. We have a million dollar idea here if you can get it to work. I've got the capital. We can do this. It gives us something to do and you can start to earn money again. I know you wanna buy a ring for blondie."

Tatsu narrowed her gaze on Shego and then sighed. Her shoulders dipped. "It's been almost five years. I gotta make a move eventually. She makes all the moves."

"Well, this is our move. You study the blueprints and figure the board out. I'll pay for whatever parts you need to build a prototype and scout a location to sell 'em."

For all her seeming reluctance, Tatsu looked Shego in the eye. "Get a spot that's big enough for people to practice on the boards."

"Huh?" Shego's brow wrinkled.

"People like to try new stuff out. Every time I put something new on a car or improved it, guys always wanted to try stuff out immediately. I never had the space."

Shego made a mental note of that. "I think I need to pick your brain about this." For the first time in a long time, energy pumped through Shego without Kim being involved. Time to do something new, something exciting.

-8-8-8-8-

Tatsu was curled up in the armchair with the binder Shego brought out. Tatsu studied the hover board semantics, feeling like her brain might explode, trying to figure out how Drakken thought the whole mess was going to work. His design hurt her head. She tried to read his writing in the margins, but it looked like scribbled lines and nothing more. She was not sure it was even English. He might have been playing around with the whole project.

"Baby, are you going to join us at the table or what? "Trin asked, taking Tatsu out of her thoughts.

Tatsu's stomach growled. "Coming!" She popped up from the chair and plucked the binder up to go with her. She sat at her usual spot at the table to find dinner, lasagna, salad, and garlic bread, already waiting. Her stomach cried out once more.

"Hey!" Shin huffed as the back of the binder came close to his plate. "What the hell is that thing, anyway? You taking courses we don't know about?"

Tatsu only grunted. She did not have time for Shin or his need for attention. Resting her chin in her hand, she stared at the picture and broke off some lasagna with her other hand. She did not even notice Trin was next to her until her girlfriend leaned in close enough to block the opposite page.

"Is that a hover board?" Trin asked with a curious wrinkle between her eyebrows.

"Yeah," Tatsu answered.

"Why are you stuck on looking at a hover board?" Kim asked.

Shego chimed in. "Me and Tats are gonna go into business selling them, if Tats can figure out Drakken's crazy design, so she can build it."

Kim's chair scratched the hardwood floor as she pushed away from the table and jumped to her feet. "Drakken? Are you crazy trying to do anything with his stuff?"

"Calm down, Princess. It's a hover board, not a death ray." Shego waved the whole thing off.

"Everything is death ray of some kind when it comes to Darken," Kim huffed, giving Shego a hard look. Shego did not seem moved and Tatsu ignored Kim. Kim was Shego's problem.

"Might have better luck with a death ray." Tatsu turned the binder on the side. She looked at Trin. "Does it make sense to you?"

Trin shrugged. "Sorry, baby. None of my sciences fall under engineering." She kissed Tatsu's cheek, which made her feel nice, but did not help with the blueprint.

"Lemme see." Shin grabbed the binder before Tatsu could stop him. He squinted as he studied the book and then squinted some more as he flipped it upside down. "Is this even English?"

Tatsu was desperate enough for help that she did not even bother to take the book back. Maybe Shin could make some sense of things. From the way his face grimaced, she doubted he could piece it together either.

"If the biochemist and computer programmer could return the book to a proper engineer," Trin said, staring Shin down hard.

Shin sucked his teeth. "Whatever." He shoved the book back at Tatsu, who resisted the urge to throw a piece of bread at him. Why was he so damn rude? Oh, because he needed attention all the time, no matter what kind. _When is he gonna grow the hell up?_

"Let me see, please." Kim held out her hand. She was back in her seat.

Tatsu was not sure if Kim wanted to see it to help or to make sure it was not dangerous, but it did not matter. She shifted the binder to safely pass it to Kim. Kim was smart and into math, close enough to engineering in a way. Kim's eyebrows knitted in close together as she stared at the figures.

"His math is way off. No way would he be able to lift a human with these figures," Kim said.

"Only Doctor D would be thwarted by not carrying the one." Shego shook her head.

"It's more than that. There's a reason he didn't get around to making this. It doesn't look dangerous because he probably couldn't make it to that part before he could figure out how to make it work. He didn't figure that out. You guys sure you want to base a business on this?" Kim inquired.

Shego nodded. "This is a good product. People have wanted real hover boards since _Back to the Future_."

"Nah, you guys should do the surfboard design from the _Thundercats_ instead of the skateboard design from _Back to the Future_," Shin said.

"It'd probably be more like a snowboard if I can figure out how he planned to do it. Balance would be easier and it would probably get some good lift," Tatsu replied. She could somewhat picture it in her mind, but she was not sure how close it would be to what Drakken was trying to do. She also was not sure how she could realistically make her plan work.

Shego grinned. "See, you're already thinking on how to get it to work. You got this, Tats." She pointed at Tatsu with both fingers.

Tatsu's shoulders straightened from the vote of confidence. She needed to figure this out. Her future and Shego's sanity could depend on it. For now, she would eat. Food might help her brain work things out. She ran over ideas in her mind while she ate, though. There had to be a way to get the hover board off the ground, so to speak.

Tatsu ended up taking the binder to bed. Trin plucked it from her grip before she even settled down. Tatsu made a noise to complain.

"Love, I'm happy you and Shego have this plan, but I know from experience never giving it a rest won't help." Trin put the binder on the nightstand and then settled on top of Tatsu.

Tatsu smiled as the familiar weight and warmth pressed down on her. "Maybe I should try to build it. I tend to work better with hands on learning." Her hands massaged Trin's thighs.

Trin stretched and kissed her chin. "Yes, and you can figure out what you can keep and change. You've got this. You're brilliant at putting things together."

Tatsu cupped Trin's ass and gave it a squeeze as she adjusted Trin more on her. Trin kissed her again and she kissed back. The kisses were relaxed in a way Tatsu forgot they could be. She realized how tense she had been throughout her life lately, even when she was with her blond bombshell. She needed this hover board thing. Getting on her feet would help her with their relationship.

"I'm going to do this," Tatsu said in between kisses.

"I don't doubt you."

Tatsu moved her shoulders to settle deeper in her pillow. "You're so amazing." She could not believe how much Trin just supported her. Building a hover board should sound like a fantasy, but Trin was just right there pushing her, believing in her, even though she had failed so much these past few months.

Trin smiled a little. "You're amazing. And, remember, if you get stuck, you've got my dad and brothers to help."

That was true enough. "I gotta try to build it first." She would do it her way and tweak what she needed to as she went, like she did when she first started working on cars.

"Of course. You'll be fine in business with Shego?"

"Yeah. She's not out to get on my nerves like she is with you." Tatsu felt like she and Shego got along great, especially compared to how Shego got along with Trin.

"You are quite right about that. Good luck, baby."

"Thanks." Tatsu kissed the top of Trin's head. She would make this work somehow. She needed to be able to give back to Trin, beyond emotionally anyway.

-8-8-8-8-

"Are you sure about starting a business with Tatsu?" Kim asked Shego as they both eased into their king-sized bed. Kim sighed as she cuddled into Shego's side. Shego wasted no time putting her arms around the slender body of her girlfriend. Kim hooked her leg around Shego's thighs, having skin on skin contact thanks to their skimpy pajama shorts.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Why do you ask?" Shego ran her fingertips along Kim's bare bicep. It was not like Kim to show any doubt in Tatsu. She knew it had to do with Kim having the utmost faith in Trin, so she trusted all of Trin's decisions, including the people she let into her life.

Kim shrugged. "You've never shown any interest in business, unless it involved taking over the world anyway."

That was definitely true. "I know, but I've got a good feeling about this. Plus, I need something to do."

"So, you go into business with Tatsu? Are you sure you aren't doing this because Tatsu can't hold a job?"

Shego arched an eyebrow as she regarded Kim. "What, you think I'd do that? That's a lot of money just to keep Tatsu's self-esteem up. I need something to do as much as she does."

Kim moved, pushing herself up to stare down at Shego. "You haven't talked to me about it."

Shego twisted up her mouth. "I don't want to bother you with this stuff." She did not want to trouble Kim. She did not want Kim to think there was a chance Shego could end up going back to a life of doing the wrong thing. She did not want to disappoint Kim. Beyond that, she did not think Kim would understand this feeling of uselessness weighing Shego down. Tatsu understood all too well.

Kim pouted a little. "Well, I want to be bothered when you're upset. I want to be bothered with everything about you."

"I'm not upset." Shego caressed Kim's cheek. "I'm just bored. You've got classes and being a hero to keep you busy."

Kim nodded. "I thought you were getting bored. Gym didn't help, huh?"

"It was a good suggestion, but I can't spend seven hours at the gym. Besides, I keep breaking equipment. They banned me." It had been Kim's idea that she join a gym. It worked for a little while, but it was never going to cut it. She had not made any friends there and had not been very interested in any classes. It would not have kept her busy for much longer.

Kim frowned. "They banned you?" Her voice was heated and she sounded like she was ready to go get justice for Shego. It was cute.

Shego chuckled and stroked Kim's side. "Calm down, Princess. I don't care about the ban. I just need something to occupy my time and I think this would do that pretty well." It would give her a way to keep a steady income as well. She could not assume her money would last the rest of her life. She needed a plan.

Kim's shoulders relaxed. "You sure you want to hang your hat on something Drakken came up with?"

"I think Tats is good enough to finish Drakken's stuff." She meant that. Tatsu was smart. She might not realize it, but Shego knew Tatsu could do great things and she wanted to be there. Hell, maybe she needed to be there. She needed something to do and Tatsu looked like she was drowning at this point as far as earning money went. "Are you really worried about it being Drakken's idea? Or are you worried Tatsu can't do it?"

"It's no big on the second thing. I've seen her with the tweebs."

Shego was missing something. She searched Kim's eyes for the piece she could not pin down. "What's up, Princess? What are you worried about?" She caressed Kim's side again, hoping the touch was comforting enough for Kim to unburden herself.

Those slender shoulders dropped again. "How long before you get bored forever?"

Shego shifted and cupped the back of Kim's head. She pulled Kim in for a kiss. It was soft, cautious, loving. She wanted that to be her response to Kim. When they pulled away, Kim was smiling, but her eyes still seemed sad. There was a glisten to her olive green eyes.

"Kimmie, I love you. I'm not going to get bored with you." Shego knew that with all of her heart. First off, it was impossible to get bored with Kim. Kim was the opposite of boredom. Second, she would never be able to live without Kim and she knew that for a fact.

Kim sniffled a little. "You don't know that. And maybe not bored with me, but with this life."

Running her fingers through long, red hair, Shego smiled, more to herself than at Kim. Yeah, this life was a little boring, but even now she would take this over her old life with Drakken. Beyond that, she would never forget the feeling that coursed through her when she thought Kim was dead. She realized she loved Kim then, but she also realized she did not want to live without Kim. She would never put herself through that if she could help it.

Shego gave Kim a soft, peck on the lips. "Pumpkin, you don't have to be scared of me ever being _that_ bored. I'll find stuff to do, but I'm not leaving you. As far as I'm concerned, you're stuck with me forever."

"You mean that?"

"You're damn right I mean that. You and I are forever, Pumpkin. That's just the way things are, so you need to get used to it. I'm gonna be here for a good, long time." It was more than a promise.

Kim beamed. "I'm not complaining and I'm holding you to that."

Shego smiled back and Kim settled against her again. Shego breathed easy as Kim peppered her chin with light kisses. She squeezed Kim around the shoulders. Feeling Kim relax against her, about to drift off would never get old. Yes, she might get bored, but she was never leaving _this_ behind.

For a long while, Shego watched Kim in her sleep. She wanted to do so right by Kim. So, she needed to get herself together. Kim deserved that and more. _So, make this work_.

In the morning, Shego and Tatsu got started after their significant others and Shin went off to school. Shego wanted to read up on starting a business while Tatsu was more concerned with finding parts. Apparently, she was going to actually build the hover board to figure out what Drakken was trying to do. It was better than nothing.

"If we're going to do this and I'm gonna finance this, I should open us a business account. We both get a card and you could buy whatever pieces you need for the prototype on the card," Shego said. She would do that immediately.

Tatsu glanced at her. "Businesses do that, right?"

"Legal businesses, yeah. And we want this to be legal, so we gotta pay taxes."

"And not steal stuff." It was funny that they both needed that to be said.

"Agreed." So, now they were in business.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: all work and no play make Shego and Tatsu forget about an important day.


	2. Brilliance

I don't own these characters; Disney does. I do own Trin, Shin, and Tatsu, though.

2: Brilliance

Tatsu scratched her head from her spot on the floor in the apartment as she glanced from her prototype to Drakken's blueprints. She had made several modifications to the design, but she could not figure out a critical part. How the hell would she get this damn thing in the air? Drakken's notes and sketch made no sense! She had tried them all and nothing worked. She had tried a bunch of her own ideas and they failed. What to do?

"I'll be back!" Tatsu announced to Shego, who was somewhere behind her on the phone, pacing a path in the floor and negotiating a better price for the space their business would be on. _Better her than me_.

Tatsu was glad she never had to do that when she had her own business and she would not have to do it now. It sounded beyond annoying from the pieces of the conversation she caught. Tatsu gathered up her prototype, heavier and bulkier than she planned on, throwing stray pieces in a duffel bag she used for the thing, and the blueprint binder before rushing off.

"You might want to dress warm. We can't have a business if you die from exposure outside in your muscle shirt and thin joggers," Shego called when Tatsu was at the door.

Shego had a point. Tatsu put everything down and went to get out of her house clothes and something more suitable for February weather. Jeans, boots, sweater. Trin would probably approve. Going back into the living room, Shego still talked on the phone and marched all over the living space. Tatsu gave her a nod, Shego waved her off, and she was gone with everything.

Driving to Middleton was crazy, Tatsu was sure, but that did not stop her. The Possible family wanted her to believe they would be there for her if she needed them. Time to put that to the test. Also, time to see if Drakken was actually crazy or not. She did not want to go crazy with him if he was as out of his mind as he seemed.

A few hours later, she was in the parking lot of the Space Center. It was a weekday and a little before noon, so it made sense that Doctor Possible was at work. But, she was not sure if this was appropriate. _Maybe I'm already out of my mind_. This seemed so not cool and caused her stomach to cramp. _This is stupid. I'm stupid. I'm always so damn stupid_. It was what her father used to tell her. _He was right. I know he was. I'm so fucking stupid_.

Sighing, Tatsu pulled out her phone. Her thumb lingered over Doctor Possible's name. He gave her the number for emergencies. Did this count?

"Tatsu, you there?"

Tatsu jumped at the sound of Doctor Possible's voice. Apparently, she accidentally dialed him. Well, it was nice of him to pick up. "Uh, yeah. Hi."

"Is everything okay?" He sounded concerned, like he cared. Why should he care, though? _Because he's a good person. You know they exist_.

She had to take a breath before she could even think about answering. Her throat refused to let her voice out, though. "Uh, yeah. Um… I kinda got a question for you."

"Fire away."

She glanced at the Space Center. "Uh… I was hoping to do it to your face."

He made a humming sound. "Tatsu, where are you?"

"The parking lot of your job." _Please, don't be mad. Please, don't be mad_.

He actually laughed. "Please, come in. You know where my office is?"

She searched her mind for that information. "No." She had never been to the Space Center in her life, not even for field trips when she was a little kid, and never even assumed there would be office space for the people who worked there.

"Meet me in the lobby."

"Okay." She disconnected the call and gathered the bag with the prototype and everything.

She was stopped at the front by security, but Doctor Possible came in and helped her through. He smiled at her as he patted her on the shoulder as a greeting. "It's good to see you. What's with the big bag?"

She tugged on the duffel strap. "This is what I have to ask about."

He nodded and made two tight fists with a bright smile. It actually reminded her of the rare moments Trin allowed herself to show her excitement. "I can't wait to see this."

She followed him to his office, walking through wide halls, passing people in lab coats, all of whom Doctor Possible greeted. It reminded her of how smart the Possibles were. What did she think she was doing with them? He would probably figure out this hover board thing with no problem while she had agonized over for weeks now. _I'm so stupid_.

"Here's our stop," Doctor Possible said as they came to a door with his name on it. He opened the door for her and she stepped inside.

Doctor Possible's office was like the office the Possibles had at their home. Plenty of books on shelves, maybe not as neat as they were at the Possible house. He had several pictures on his walls, some of them with people she did not know, but most of them were his family. He had degrees and awards on the wall. His desk did not have much space thanks to more pictures and books. She was not sure where she would put the prototype.

"Give me a second to make space!" Doctor Possible rushed to move his pictures from his desk. One of the pictures was from Christmas. It was the whole group, including her and Shego's parents. He stacked things on a surface behind his desk until most of the desk was clear. "Is that enough space?" he asked.

Tatsu looked at the pretty clear desk. "Should be good."

She dumped the bag on the desk and opened it, pulling out the prototype. It was longer and thicker than she envisioned it. There was a lot of work to do, but it would not matter if she could not get the damn thing off the ground.

"What do you have here?" Doctor Possible asked, sinking down to the desk level for a better look. He did not touch anything, but he looked at it from several angles.

"A hover board. Well, it's supposed to be. Can't get it to hover." She shrugged, like that would get rid of the heavy, awkward weight on her shoulders.

His eyes lit up as he looked at her. "Hover board? You're making a hover board?"

"Trying to. Shego took this book from Drakken and it's got plans for a bunch of stuff in it." She held up the binder.

"Okay, but why a hover board?"

"Shego and I are going into business selling them since people want them. Well, if I can get the thing to hover, anyway." She scratched her head.

"Business? Hover?" It looked like a light bulb went off in his head. "You went my help to make it hover!" He sounded giddy, way too giddy for a middle-aged man. He even clapped.

"Help would be appreciated."

He clapped even more. "Yes! I'm in. Tell me what you've tried."

Tatsu ran through every idea she had along with everything she felt like Drakken thought would work. Doctor Possible plugged each idea into his computer to run a simulation. Tatsu was riveted by this. She had never seen anything like it, had not known something like this was real.

"This idea looks like it might actually be viable." He motioned to the screen. "Why'd you drop it?"

She shook her head. "It didn't work here." She tapped her temple. Most of her work was put on paper and then run through her mind. If it did not work in her brain, she did not move forward with it.

He nodded. "Good reason. Sometimes, it's best to run a simulation, though."

"Can't."

He looked at her with a scrunched up expression. "Why not? You don't have the software? Trin should've given you the software. Wait, maybe she doesn't have it. I don't think it would be useful to her or Shin, but you should still have it."

"It wouldn't help."

He looked even more confused. "Why wouldn't it help?"

"No computer."

His jaw dropped. "What? How is that possible? You're dating a hacker and computer programmer."

She shrugged. "Never needed one." She barely needed or used her cellphone.

He rubbed his chin. "We probably have an old one at home with this software on it already. This will save you a lot of time. Besides, you see one of your ideas might work." He motioned back to his computer screen.

"You don't have to." She had not come for handouts and she did not want him to think she needed stuff like that. She was only looking to solve an intellectual problem.

"It's not a bother, Tatsu. I'd rather have a use for our old tech than leave it to collect dust. You'd be doing us a favor to take it."

Tatsu was set to argue, but swallowed it down. She needed all the help she could get for this project. It might be her only chance to step her game up and be worthy of her beloved. So, yes, she would take the damn laptop.

"Thank you, sir," She said and he gave her a stern glare. "Uh, James." That felt weird. Did it sound weird? His reaction seemed to say it was fine.

He grinned. "Good. The boys should be home by now. I'll call them and let them know you're coming by for the laptop. They can tutor you on the program. They're the ones who showed me."

"Okay."

He continued to smile. He looked like he was ready to applaud. "So, once the business gets off the ground, will you finally make an honest woman out of my daughter?"

Tatsu felt a hot blush conquer her face. She stammered, but could not find anything that resembled an answer in her brain. She would like to propose to Trin sometime soon, but she needed to see how this business thing would go.

"Come on, Tatsu. You can't just be living together for the rest of your lives," James said.

"You're right." She wanted them to grow together, but she felt so stuck in life. She did not want Trin to outgrow her.

He blinked. "Wasn't expecting that answer."

"I bet, but you're right. She's about to be a doctor. Can't have her introducing me as her girlfriend to all the other doctors." That seemed weird to her. She definitely could not stand by Trin's side with Trin being a PhD and her being unemployed. How would that look? _Bad_.

His forehead wrinkled. "Okay. I have some work to finish up. So, you take this to the house and I'll be by in a couple of hours. The boys are going to love this thing." He ran his hand along the board.

Tatsu nodded, packed up, and left. She went to the Possible house and Anne let her in. She smiled as a greeting, but of course, Anne hugged her. The twins came out of nowhere and hugged her, too.

"Dad called! You made a hover board?" Jim bounced in front of her.

"We got the laptop. Show us the hover board!" Tim wiggled his fingers toward the duffel bag.

Tatsu turned to Anne, who smiled at her and pointed to the living room. The twins each took a hand and yanked her to the living room. Taking her bag off of her shoulder, she unzipped it and the boys were on it as soon as the bag hit the floor. They studied the board. Their examination was much more hands on than their father's had been.

"Cool!" The twins grinned.

"It doesn't hover yet," she said. Until it did what it was supposed to, it was far from cool.

Tim waved her response off. "That's okay."

"We'll help." Jim pointed to himself and put a hand on Tim's shoulder.

Tatsu nodded and was grateful for that. They all jumped right into work. She explained to them what she had done with the board and her ideas on how to make it hover. They started adding onto her ideas while also showing her how to work the program on the laptop. She was surprised she could follow along what they were saying and showing her, even though she was not big on computers.

"When you take the computer home, Trin might know how to use the program, but maybe not," Tim said.

"Kim knows how to use it, even though she doesn't need it. She likes the math in it," Jim added.

"Weirdo," they both muttered about Kim.

"If neither of them can help, you can always call us," Jim said.

Tim nodded. "Yeah, we should be able to talk you through it."

Tatsu only nodded right back as they continued to work. It seemed like no time at all passed and then James was right there with them. They worked on theories and ran simulations until Anne let them know it was time for dinner.

Tatsu blinked. "Dinner?" What time was it?

"I assumed you'd stay for dinner, but I'm not sure about beyond that," Anne said.

Tatsu rubbed her head. She was not sure if she would stay for dinner. She did not mean to stay all day. "Should call Trin. Haven't spoken to her all day."

"I called her to let her know you're here. She says you don't like driving at night. You can stay if you'd like."

Tatsu shook her head. "No, I'd rather get back." This was already a huge thing for her. Staying over without Trin there was way too much.

"You gotta keep us up on the hover board," Tim said, pointing to her.

"And we'll call you if we have other ideas," Jim said, making a wild gesture. They seemed more hyped over her building a hover board than she was.

"Even though it seems like you're on the right track," James said, as they all made their way to the dinner table. "But, we wouldn't mind at all if you came back with it, so we can help you out. Your hover board is awesome."

"What's all this talk about hover boards?" Anne inquired.

"Shego and Tatsu are making a business to sell hover boards," Jim replied before Tatsu could say anything.

"Tatsu's in charge of making the hover board. Her design is pretty cool so far," Tim added in.

"It doesn't hover," Tatsu said.

"But, you have tons of good ideas to get it in the air!" Jim grinned.

"We ran a few simulations and they were really good. It's gonna be awesome when she actually makes it. Like, it'll be a real hover board," Tim said, throwing his hands up.

The guys started going on about Tatsu's ideas and what they thought would make things work. Anne listened with a smile. Tatsu watched it all, somewhat awed. They thought she had something with this. Geniuses thought her ideas were good. It was beyond her imagination. Once dinner was done, Tatsu packed up her stuff to return home. The entire family walked her to the door.

"Are you warm enough?" Anne fixed Tatsu's hat.

"Take your time driving and call when you get home," James instructed her.

"Call if you feel like you need someone to talk to as you drive home," Anne added.

Tatsu could only nod, doing her best to not look as overwhelmed as all the caring made her feel. She loaded into the car and began her journey home. By the time she got there, the lights were still on and Trin was on the sofa with a mug and a book. Tatsu smiled as she dropped her bag and marched to the sofa. They leaned in for a kiss and Trin began open Tatsu's coat as their lips lingered against each other. Tatsu shrugged out of the coat.

"Want some tea?" Trin asked as she stood to hang up Tatsu's coat for her.

Tatsu shook her head and yawned. "Just a shower and bed."

Trin nodded while securing Tatsu's coat in the closet. "All right. Did you get a lot of work done?"

"Yeah. Your father and brothers were awesome."

"The boys called and told me they gave you a laptop you might need help with."

"Yeah. I'll show you on the weekend."

"Sounds good."

Tatsu made her way to the bathroom. Trin collected her dirty clothes as Tatsu showered. The hot water helped relax her. She expected to be tense from being around the Possibles, but she was not as bad as she thought she would be. In fact, the ball of anxiety that had been in her stomach over the hover board was gone, replaced with a fuzzy feeling of hope. The Possibles believed in her, just like Trin and Shego did. She smiled to herself.

When she got out of the shower, she saw her pajamas waiting for her. Trin was a godsend. _How did I get so lucky?_ Trin was waiting for her in the bedroom, reading her book again. They curled up in Trin's bed, blanketed by the dark.

"You seem like you're enjoying this," Trin said.

Tatsu inhaled as she pulled Trin close. "Yeah, I love sleeping next to you."

Trin chuckled. "I mean the hover board business thing."

"I know. It's fun. Building the damn thing is fun, but frustrating." This was true. She missed being able to tinker with things. She could have been doing that with her free time, but it never occurred to her at the time. Of course, one of the things that could be making this fun was the promise of being able to afford being with Trin, being on level with Trin. That would be nice.

"I know you like building stuff. I'm happy you trusted my family enough to go to them for help."

Tatsu knew Trin would love that, but it was for herself as well. She needed to trust the Possibles and they came through. She would get through this project, even if she got stuck. She had people who would have her back. _I wanna make them proud as much as I wanna make Trin proud and I wanna learn to feel safe with them like I am with her_.

-8-8-8-8-

Shego shot up in the middle of the night, jolting Kim awake with her. Shego yanked her business idea book from her nightstand and jotted down their need for a website. _Why didn't this come to me sooner?_ She put down things she felt needed to go on the website. They would need to advertise and soon. Tatsu had figured out how to get her prototype off the ground after her weird dash from the apartment a few days ago. A loud yawn drew her attention to her left.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Kimmie. I didn't mean to wake you up." Shego put an arm around Kim and pulled her close to kiss the top of her head.

Kim yawned again and rubbed her eye. "S'okay. Business idea?" It was not the first time she got an idea in the middle of the night.

"Yeah. You think Wade would make us a website? I'll pay him."

"Probably." Kim slumped against her.

"Go back to sleep, Princess."

"Glad you're so into your business." Kim's eyes were closed and that sentence was mumbled worse than Tatsu's speech.

Shego kissed the top of Kim's head again and Kim was asleep against her. She put her business book down and settled back down on her pillow. Kim cuddled against her and she rubbed Kim's shoulder. She smiled to herself and thought on other things the business might need. She would talk to Tatsu in the morning.

Besides, she wanted to show Tatsu the space she finally purchased as their store front. That has been more a pain in the ass than she expected. Now, she had to figure out how to prepare the space. There was so much to do and she looked forward to all of it.

In the morning, Shego practically ran down to Trin and Shin's apartment. Trin was in the kitchen while Tatsu was tinkering with the hover board prototype with Shin literally on her shoulder, poking at things. Tatsu's face said he probably had ten seconds before she hit him with the nearest blunt object.

"What if you—?" Shin started, but Tatsu cut him off.

"What if you shut up and go over there?" Tatsu pointed behind her with a screwdriver, almost taking out Shin's eye. He did not even flinch.

"How can you be this annoying this early?" Shego asked. He had probably been bugging Tatsu about the board since they woke up and made their way into the common area.

"This is tame compared to when he was a teenager," Kim said.

"He's hyped because Booker agreed to be his Valentine," Trin explained.

Shego paused. Valentine? No, that had to be like a week away. She searched her brain and thought hard. No, it had to be over a week… right?

"You're hyped that you boyfriend agreed to be your Valentine?" Kim asked with a wrinkle to her brow.

"We all know he sets the bar low," Trin remarked.

Kim wrapped her arms around Shego's bicep. "Or maybe he's the real romantic among us." Kim giggled and squeezed Shego.

_Holy shit!_ Shego had to plan something for Valentine's Day. _Holy shit!_ She forgot about Valentine's Day. _Maybe I'm getting too caught up in this business thing_. But, it felt so good to be doing something, to have a purpose.

"So, what's your plan with Booker?" Kim asked as she made her way to the table.

"I have no plans! Give me plans!" Shin dropped to his knees and pressed his hands together.

"Did Sis give you a good idea you don't want to take?" Kim asked with an arched eyebrow.

Shin pointed at Kim. "I'm not falling for that one. Hit me with some ideas."

Shego hoped Kim took the bait. She wanted to know what Kim wanted for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Kim did not fill in the blanks for her and Trin served breakfast before anyone said anything else. Breakfast was eaten over the din of their usual meal time discussion. Then it was just her and Tatsu.

Shego sighed as she fell against the sofa. "How's the prototype coming along?"

Tatsu dropped to the floor next to the prototype. "Can't get the damn thing more than six inches off the ground, which I guess is progress since that's higher than it was getting a week ago. You don't even want to know how moving the thing forward is coming along. James thinks I should attach boosters, but I think it'll need fuel then and I don't want to run it on gasoline."

"Well, he is a rocket scientist. What's you plan?" Shego asked.

Tatsu scratched her head. "I need the hover sections to adjust as a person leans forward. I don't want it to be clunky."

Shego nodded. "You got this. I mean, you got it off the ground. That was the hard part." Tatsu had been stuck on that and Shego, even with her intelligence, had no clue where to start to help her. "Wanna go check out the storefront?"

Tatsu's head went up. "Yeah." Her eyes shined.

Shego laughed, pleased with her business partner's enthusiasm. "I've got some ideas I want to throw at you on the way and get your thoughts on things."

Tatsu nodded and went to get dressed. Shego checked her calendar and her stomach lurched to see Valentine's Day was in two days. _Holy shit!_ She had some serious work to do. Only the most clichéd things came to mind by the time Tatsu returned. _I am so fucked_. She might end up living in their storefront.

"Should bring the thing?" Tatsu asked, nodding toward the prototype.

Shego shook her head. "We shouldn't need it."

Tatsu shrugged and they were off. Shego made sure to take her business idea book and Tatsu made sure to take Drakken's binder. The ride started out quiet.

"So, I was thinking if this takes off, I could do these boots in here." Tatsu patted the binder.

Shego scrunched up her face. "Boots?"

"They're anti-gravity, but also magnetic. You can walk up walls and stand on the ceiling. Since I figured out how to get the board to hover, the boots look kinda easy."

"Oh, he didn't complete that idea either?" What the hell was Drakken doing with his schematics? It was like everything in the binder was incomplete.

"Nope. Some of these seem like he started planning, but probably got distracted on something else."

"Sounds like him. So, I think we need a website. We'd be able to reach a much wider audience."

"Yeah."

"Kim's gonna ask Wade."

"Cool. We should make a commercial as soon as I can get the thing to do basic stuff."

Shego tapped the steering wheel. "Good idea. People will definitely want to see the hover board working. We could try to make a viral video. I think I can pay a firm for that. At least see how they handle one video and if it works out, have them make more and if not, we can try our hands at it. Wade might be able to do it and I'll pay him."

Tatsu gave her a wide-eyed look. "You got money like that?"

"Yeah. I spent about five years selling myself for a good deal of money. Being a mercenary paid well and Drakken's contract was awesome. Money is the least of our concerns. That's why I told you go to town on whatever parts you need." She hoped Tatsu had taken that to heart with the bits in the prototype. "Anything else catch your attention?"

Tatsu shook her head. "I think we could do bikes if the board works. I've got the concept down, but I need to make it practical. The program the boys gave me was a big help. I've been playing with it since getting the hover board off the ground thanks to it."

"Good for them to help you."

"Do you need help with your part?"

Shego scoffed and smirked. "Idiot, you're my help. Every time you tell me about your business helps."

Tatsu's brow furrowed, like she could not believe she was helpful to anyone. "Just me?"

"I got my parents, too. I'm not completely new, ya know?" Shego winked at her.

Tatsu blew out a breath. "Anyway. We should get an artist who will do custom art for the boards."

"Do we know any artists?"

Tatsu looked at her like she was out of her mind. "My entire social circle fits in Trin's apartment."

Shego laughed. "I'll look into it." She would check in with Kim. She usually knew everybody.

Tatsu was quiet and Shego drove up to their future storefront. Tatsu's eyes went wide as Shego pulled into the parking lot. Then, Tatsu turned to her.

"You bought the whole mini-mall space?" Tatsu asked.

"Yeah. Hear me out with this." Shego held up her hands, knowing Tatsu would already think this was too much. Tatsu seemed to think everything was too much. "We do the store and an indoor track to practice or rent the boards, but I figure the audience we're probably going to attract here, we could have an arcade. We can also knock down some buildings and make an outdoor skatepark and I dunno, but we have the space."

"We definitely have the space," Tatsu muttered, staring at the buildings.

Shego frowned. "What? Are you not serious about this?" She thought this was a great idea, but Tatsu seemed reluctant about it.

Tatsu scowled at her. "Of course I'm serious about this. You think I just spent weeks making the board prototype for the hell of it?"

"It gave you something to do, didn't it?" Shego snorted, flaring both nostrils.

"Yeah, but it didn't make me any money, which is what I'm trying to do. Do you know what I'm doing for my blond bombshell on Valentine's Day? I convinced her to stay in, so I can order takeout because that's all I can afford. So, yeah, I'm taking this seriously."

"Then what the hell is the problem with the space?" Shego motioned to the area with one hand.

"There's too much of it. We have one product and we don't know if it'll take off. You've kinda gone all in."

"Because I know this is going to work… and also I want some place to ride go-carts."

Tatsu's brow wrinkled. "Go-carts?"

"Yeah, I wanna put a little go-cart track in. You know you wanna work on go-carts." She could already imagine Tatsu souping up the go-carts, giving each one their own distinct specialties to make them all unique and fun to race.

Tatsu scowled. "I hate you."

Shego chuckled and shoved Tatsu's shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go look inside and discuss the layout."

Tatsu rolled her eyes and they got out of the car. They started in the largest space, which used to be a supermarket. Shego felt that would be a good place for the go-carts. Tatsu did not disagree. In fact, Tatsu did not utter a word through Shego's ideas and her face never changed. That was better than her screaming, "hell, yeah!"

"So, we good now?" Shego asked.

"Are we?" Tatsu arched an eyebrow as they made their way back to the car.

"What do you mean?"

"You freaked earlier. What's up?"

Shego sucked her teeth. When did Tatsu get so insightful? It was annoying.

"You suck, you know?" Shego yanked her door shut.

"You do, too. After all, we're doing all this shit and I know part of it is to get me on my feet." Tatsu leveled her with a look.

Shego blew out a breath. "I got so wrapped up in this I forgot about Valentine's Day."

"Okay, ouch, but it's not here yet. No, you might not get a great table, but there's still a bunch of crap you can do."

"Like your stay inside idea?"

Tatsu shrugged. "We get to pretend we live alone. No Shin, unless of course he brings Booker home. Trin tried to talk him into a hotel room. I don't know if that worked."

"Probably. He's gonna want Booker all to himself. No way he brings Booker home for Trin to question." He would never want to risk losing Booker after he messed up over the summer.

Tatsu nodded. "True. What do you think Kim would like if you didn't have a bunch of money to throw around?"

Shego thought on it for about a second. Kim liked classic things. She could do the dozen roses, box of chocolates, and teddy bear and Kim would swoon. It seemed cheesy. It was nothing but clichés on top of clichés. She wanted something special considering she almost forgot the day entirely.

"She'll be happy spending time with you. Trust me, I learned this the hard way," Tatsu said.

That was true. Everything did not have to be "go big or go home." The last time she went big, Kim made her go home. They could have gone on a cruise for Christmas, but they went to the Possible house instead. And her parents popped up, which had worried her, but Kim liked her parents and her parents liked everyone and they were happy for her. So, it worked out in a way she had not planned on.

"So, no working on Valentine's Day?" Shego asked.

Tatsu glanced at her. "Thought that didn't need to be said, but okay."

"You know I like you more when you don't talk."

"Most people do." Tatsu winked at her.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: just lovey-dovey things.


	3. Shining

I don't own these characters; Disney does, except for Trin, Shin, Tatsu, and Booker.

A/N: forgot to shout out my beta in the first chapter. Special thanks to Sydney.

3: Shining

Despite the fact that Tatsu said they were not working on Valentine's Day, inspiration struck her and she was on the floor with the prototype. She knew exactly how to move the thrusters, so the board could move forward, backward, and side to side. Trin watched from the sofa, the movie paused.

"I'm sorry," Tatsu said as she realized what she was doing. Her shoulders dropped. What was wrong with her? She was able to treat her blond bombshell to a quiet date, sure it was cheap and in the house, but still and she was about to work through it.

Trin smiled at her. "I actually like watching you work. It's made even better when you do it in a sports bra." Blond eyebrows wiggled.

Tatsu smiled and flexed her bicep. Trin pretended to swoon and fanned herself. Tatsu glanced at the board and then dropped the pieces in her hand. She grabbed her notepad and quickly scribbled down her idea. It would keep until later. She then dived on the couch, kissing Trin with all she had. Trin moaned and Tatsu felt quite accomplished to the point where she did not want to pull away. But, they needed to breathe at some point. Staring into each other's eyes, they smiled.

"No more hover board?" Trin asked, hands clutching Tatsu's arms. Her thumbs caressed Tatsu's skin and it was like having warmth flow through her blood.

"You really wanna watch me work? We've got the place to ourselves all night," Tatsu replied, briefly a breath away from her lover. They could make out on the couch and not have to worry about Shin saying something stupid. This was beyond a treat.

"Seeing you work and enjoy yourself could prove much more fascinating than any movie, especially since you're not in a shirt."

Tatsu smiled. "Got an idea."

Trin's eyes went dark. "Do tell."

"A little role play."

Trin's eyes were smokey now. "Yes, please."

Tatsu chuckled. "You don't even know what roles I want us to play."

"Babe, I let you have your way with me on a car hood. Do you honestly believe I'll turn down any chance to play with you?"

Tatsu groaned at the memory. It was followed by many other memories and surprisingly it doused the fire inside her a little. Trin pressed her thumbs with a little more pressure and Tatsu focused on her again.

"Where'd you go, baby?" Trin asked, eyes glistening with concern now.

"I wasn't good to you when we first started and I haven't been good to you recently." Maybe she was never really good to Trin. She just happened to be better in the middle, but it might not have been good. _You're not good enough for her, but she chose you. You should be better and show her she's not making a poor decision_.

Trin's eyebrows bent in. "Because you've been working on the board?"

"And before that." Tatsu wanted nothing more than to treat Trin like a queen for the rest of their lives.

Trin frowned. "Haven't we talked about that already? You haven't treated me any way I haven't allowed for and I respect your work on the hover board and the fact that you're trying to start a business. Now, can you please let it go?"

Tatsu opened her mouth to argue and then thought better of it. It was time to let it go. No, she had not treated Trin well when they first met, but Trin had allowed it. It actually helped them get close. She should not regret it solely because it got them to trust each other enough to try dating. Now, she was trying to better herself for the sake of them and Trin understood that. She did not need to punish herself for improving. She leaned down and kissed Trin, who kissed back, for a few seconds anyway.

"I believe I was promised role play. You've piqued my interest, so now you have to deliver." Trin smirked at her and ran a finger along Tatsu's bicep. It was warm, but made her shiver.

Tatsu laughed. "So, no movie?" It would not bother her one bit.

"No movie."

"Take out?" They had ordered. It should be there in less than ten minutes.

"Damn."

Tatsu could not help going in for another kiss, moaning as Trin returned the affection. Those lips and tongue felt like so much heaven. It was a shame to break away, but necessary. "It's okay. That just means we have some time to think of a scene."

"And we can make out until the food comes." Trin's eyes had a naughty sparkle.

"Well, make outs aren't the best way to help me think." Of course, Trin looking at her like she was an item on the menu did not help either.

One of Trin's hands drifted to Tatsu's torso and down her stomach to the hem of her shorts. Her mind went blank as it felt like there was a trail of electricity down her body. She almost fell on top of Trin, but managed to keep her trembling arms holding her up.

"You're right," Trin said.

Tatsu let out a low moan. "Right?"

"You'll never be able to think of something while we make out."

Tatsu pouted. "That's a bad thing?"

"No. We'll just make out. Put a pin in the role play for later. No pressure. We agreed tonight is about relaxing."

Tatsu bit her lip. "God, I love you so damn much."

Trin smiled. "I love you, too. Now, can you kiss me until food shows up?"

Tatsu grinned and dived in for another kiss as she lowered her body down onto Trin. The weak little purr that escaped Trin as their bodies touched hit Tatsu deep within and made her throb. She palmed Trin's breasts while a hand dipped into her shorts and clutched her ass. Her hips jolted, pressing her against Trin, and Trin moaned into her mouth. At some point, her hand had worked its way under Trin's camisole. Her hand filled with soft flesh and she squeezed as the doorbell chimed. Trin hissed.

"Sorry," Tatsu said. The doorbell startled her and she had definitely squeezed too hard.

Trin smiled at her and gave her a quick peck on the mouth. "No, it was good."

Tatsu's face scrunched up in consideration. "Do we really need to eat?"

Trin pouted a little. "They already charged your card."

Tatsu sighed and glared at the door. "And I don't have money to waste. Fine. We'll eat, but hold my place."

Trin grinned as Tatsu rolled off of her. She answered the door as she was, sports bra and basketball shorts. The delivery guy blinked as he took her in, eyes stuck on her abdomen. She chuckled. Trin liked her stomach, too, as she was quite ripped. She took the bag of food and shut the door. She returned to the sofa with her bounty and discovered Trin had brought out the champagne.

"No chocolate?" Tatsu smirked.

Trin smirked right back. "Someone didn't buy me any."

"To be fair, someone didn't buy me any either."

"Because you'd let me eat it all. I'd be buying me chocolate and I'm not interested in that." It was the truth. It happened a couple of times.

Tatsu smiled and went in for a kiss before unpacking their food. Trin cuddled into her and they fed each other shredded chicken with rice and beans. It was a nice night. She hoped Shego's night was nice, too.

-8-8-8-8-

Shego had gone classic. Kim got a dozen roses, a giant teddy bear with a heart balloon in his grip, and chocolate. She also cooked. For her, cooking was the thing that would make this evening special. How often did she cook for Kim? Never. Mostly because she never cooked. There was no reason for her to do so. And, since this was special, Shego put on a dress, like she was taking Kim out.

Kim blinked when she came in and found Shego in the dress. "Uh… I thought we weren't going out."

Shego turned and smiled, pleased with Kim's reaction to her. "We're not, but that doesn't mean I don't want to look nice for you."

Kim nodded and muttered something about knowing exactly what she wanted to put on. She went to change clothes to match Shego's formal wear and the candlelit dinner on their seldom-used table. And when Kim sat across from her at their table with a candle flame flickering between them, the smoldering, smoky look in those olive eyes told Shego she needed to listen to Tatsu more often.

"This is amazing," Kim said, beaming to the point that she might out shine the candle.

Shego felt a hot flush in her face. "Say that after you try the food." It was a joke, but her stomach roiled at the thought of Kim not liking the meal. Shego could cook some meals pretty well and she had gone with her best tonight, pulled steak, baked potatoes, yellow rice, red beans, and mixed vegetables.

Kim's smile did not let up. "I'm sure it's great, like everything else. It's all been so nice." She picked up her fork.

"Oh, I didn't get to tell you thanks for the flowers." Shego's flowers had been delivered earlier while Kim was in class. Green and red roses because this was Kim and Shego.

"I really wished I could see your face when you got them." Kim put some food in her mouth and her eyes brightened. Even without saying anything, Shego felt pride in her work from Kim's expression.

Shego scoffed. "I think I grinned like an idiot for five minutes, so I'm happy you didn't see." This was the truth. Her face hurt from smiling so much. She had not expected to feel so giddy and pleased over receiving flowers, but just because they were Kim was enough to make them better than gold. She glanced over to the vase on the coffee table and felt a flutter in her stomach as she took in the sight of her unique bouquet.

Kim shook her head and put her fork down to hold Shego's hand across the table. "You deserve flowers as much as I do."

Shego hated that she blushed even more. Kim was not the first lover to bring her flowers, but there was something about Kim doing it. It seemed more sincere, genuine. There was definitely more thought and effort in getting green roses.

"To be honest, I worried you'd be too busy with the business to do anything with me," Kim said, glancing away. The candlelight played with shadows on her face, making her look haunted.

Shego gulped and her stomach turned. "I'll never be that busy." Never again anyway. She gave Kim's hand a squeeze.

A smile lit up Kim's face, which helped settle Shego's emotions. "Good. So, I feel more confident about my gift." She picked up an envelope from her lap and slid it across the table.

Shego's brow furrowed as she gathered up the envelope. Opening it, she found two tickets for a cruise at the end of next month. She gasped and her eyes shot to Kim. _I love this woman so damn much!_

"To make up for the one we missed on Christmas," Kim said with a cute, bashful half smile.

Shego's heart thumped in her chest. "Thank you, Princess." Business building would definitely have to wait for a week while they cruised around the Caribbean. _I get to see my sweetie in a bikini! _That should not make her feel giddy, but it did.

Kim reached across the table and grabbed Shego's hand once more. It managed to warm her whole body. The look in Kim's eyes, smoldering and loving, helped. "I don't want you to ever think if I say no to something I'm rejecting you."

"That never entered my mind." Okay, that was a lie, but no reason to make Kim feel guilty if it was all cleared up. She smiled, both on the outside and the inside.

"And I'm proud of you for being so dedicated to your business idea. I'm glad you're so into it. I know it's going to be amazing when you two are done."

Those few words should not have made Shego feel so good, but she felt like she could float at the moment. _I'm so gone on this woman_. It did not matter. She would not have it any other way.

The feeling multiplied when Kim sat back and ate more of her food. Those eyes again, the way they lit up as Kim shoved some steak in her mouth. It was like fireworks in Kim's eyes and Shego could not help the swell of pride in her chest. This was the best gift Kim could give her.

"This is really good," Kim said, mouthful of food.

Shego sat up a little straighter, spine feeling a little stronger. "Glad you like it. I was happy to make it." That felt safe to admit, especially since Kim did not say Trin's food was better. _Can't believe that shit was actually on my brain_.

With a delighted grin, Kim nodded. "Yeah, it's good to know that. After all, one of us is gonna have to cook when Tatsu buys Trin a super big house with all the money you guys are gonna make with hover boards. You know I want one, right?"

Shego laughed. "I did not know that." It made sense, though. Kim was all about trying things that were new and dangerous.

"Oh, come on! You know I have to try it! I mean, come on, hover boards." Kim threw her hands out.

That drew another laugh from Shego. "So, where are we going to live when we make all this money?"

Kim leaned forward. "Well, I'd like to be close to my family. Maybe somewhere in Middleton. What do you think?"

Shego nodded as she ate some food as well. She was pleased with the taste, happy to know Kim was not trying to blow smoke up her ass. "You know, I kinda grew up like you."

Kim arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"We have a family home in Go City. Our whole family together. Grew up there with my brothers, running around, driving our parents crazy. We did family vacations and activities and stuff like that. You want something like that, don't you?" Shego did not have a problem with that. It was not just something she expected, but something she was used to and understood how good it could be.

Kim's face scrunched up. "You want to move to Go City?"

Shego blinked and replayed her words in her head, understanding that was how it sounded now. "No, nothing like that." She waved the idea off. "My family's fine with being scattered to the wind for the most part. If we really need to see each other, it only takes a phone call and we all show up. Sometimes, we accidentally show up at the house in Go City at the same time. It's weird, like we miss each other at the same time or something."

Kim nodded, but also twisted her mouth a little. "I always thought you didn't like your family."

Shego shook her head. "No, it's just how we are. Except, Hego. Hego is genuinely a dick." Every family had one.

Kim snickered. "Your dad made it seen like you guys were best friends."

Shego fought down a smile, memories of a past life echoing through her mind. "When we were little. He didn't turn into a jerk until we became teenagers with superpowers. Anyway, you're missing my point. I get you wanting to be close to your family. And in the future, wherever you want to live is fine by me as long as I'm there."

"Love, of course you're gonna be there. Wow." Kim blew out a breath. "Wow." She ate some more of her food, as if needing to pause the discussion for a moment.

"Yeah, I didn't expect to have a conversation this deep over dinner," Shego said. It was good to put those things out there, but she had not planned on things getting deep. It was nice to find out Kim was as serious about their relationship as she was. Serious enough to consider their future, even in a small way.

Kim smiled. "I'm glad. I'd like us to plan for the future. We've never really done that. We just sort of go with the flow."

Shego nodded. "True enough. Well, let's talk then."

Kim took a breath. "Okay." She ate a little bit of her food as she seemed to mull over what she wanted to say. "Kids?"

Shego held up a couple of fingers. "Two at most. I'm not interested in being driven crazy by more than that like my parents, even though they like to act like they're not crazy… or they were crazy before us or whatever. Still, I don't want a tribe."

Kim nodded. "Sounds good. I wouldn't mind more, but I'd be happy with two. I think my parents did a pretty good job keeping their sanity, even with the tweebs."

Shego could not help laughing. "I love that you think the tweebs are the problem. Did it ever occur to you the reason your parents can handle those two is because you and Trin weren't the walk in the park you like to think you were?"

Kim scoffed. "We were good kids. You just think everyone's wild because you were crazy."

"That's not what happened, Princess. I'm sure your parents would laugh at your revisionist history." Shego smirked as she dug into her food while Kim glared at her.

"Anyway, let's move on before I forget how good you've been to me tonight. Since neither of us is really religious, I don't see any problems there, but we are celebrating Christmas."

It did not make a difference to Shego. "Cool. Private or public school?"

Kim twisted her mouth up. "Not sure, yet. You?"

Shego shrugged. "I've done both. Private helps you network without even knowing it if you go to the right one. I've run into some people from school and I'm shocked at what they do for a living because I know they're idiots. But, they got hooked up by someone else from school or someone's parents from school. Let's table kids for now. Want a big house?"

"At least four bedrooms and two bathrooms."

"Okay. I'd go for more bathrooms, but that works. We'd need a deck and a pool, too."

"And lots of land."

Shego grinned. "This is nice." It felt really good.

"Being with you is nice."

They ate dinner and Shego continued on with the classic evening. She served dessert, simple chocolate cake. Kim loved it and devoured two pieces, as her metabolism always burned through everything. Turning the music up, she held out her hand and, with a smile, Kim took it. They pressed close and swayed. Kim melted into her, like they were becoming one and the same. It was nothing short of beautiful. _Holy shit! I love the classic stuff!_

-8-8-8-8-

It was nice their merry band of misfits did not reassemble again until dinner after Valentine's Day, but Tatsu was still pissed she had to put on pants and a shirt. Sure, it was a tank top, but still it was a shirt. And even more so, she was pissed Trin had to put on pants and a shirt. But, at least Trin was cooking and Shego was there to deflect away some of her desire to kill Shin, who decided he owned the whole living room and was making enough noise to wake the dead.

Booker watched with mounting horror in his bright brown eyes, knowing his boyfriend was close to dying. Kim saved him, throwing a pillow at Shin with enough force to knock him off the sofa. He made a startled, gagging noise as he went down. No one paid him any mind, not even Booker.

"Do you realize you're dating that blob on the floor on purpose?" Shego asked Booker, curled up in the armchair opposite Tatsu. The armchairs seemed to just cause bodies to tuck into themselves.

Booker smiled. "He's cute." He was as adorable as always, dressed in simple sweatpants and what was probably Shin's shirt, as he was swimming in it.

"If by cute, you mean deranged," Shego replied and she glanced in the kitchen. "And he's completely incapable of taking care of himself."

"Hey!" Shin popped up off the floor, hair sticking up from being nailed by the pillow. "I can so take care of myself! I made it all the way here after last night." He pressed his palm to chest.

"You had Booker with you. That doesn't count," Shego replied.

"Remember that time you almost got mugged and Kim had to save you?" Trin said.

Shin threw his hands up. "Oh, my god, I was blind! They dilated my pupils and Kim was my seeing eye imp!" He motioned to Kim, who had another pillow ready. Shin might need another hit.

"This is too good." Shego practically cackled. "Kimmie, you were like, ten, weren't you?"

Kim rubbed her chin with her index finger. "Nine maybe. The whole thing happened because Aunt Tashawna uttered the worst words imaginable."

"I'll be right back," the four women said in unison.

"If it was a horror movie, he'd have wandered right into the killer and I'd have to fight the monster/creature/serial killer while he wandered off," Kim said.

"That's your aunt's fault. She knows this boy." Shego jabbed her thumb in Shin's direction. No one disagreed.

Booker laughed. "Well, he's cute and charming and smart. Oh, so smart."

"I dunno. I haven't burned off the eyebrows of many smart people," Shego said with a shrug.

"Leave my eyebrows at of this!" Shin covered his eyebrows and ducked for cover behind the couch.

Booker smiled a little and his eyes sparkled. Tatsu smiled at that and eased out of her armchair over to Trin. She wrapped an arm around Trin's waist. She kissed the back of Trin's neck.

"You're making it very difficult to finish these biscuits, baby," Trin said as she applied butter to the biscuits.

Tatsu nuzzled her. "I don't care about biscuits. I just want to be close to you."

"I will not complain." And she did not, so Tatsu held her while she made biscuits.

Tatsu suspected she was the reason dinner was later than usual, but Tatsu could care less. No one complained either, but the only ones likely to complain—Shego and Shin—were busy picking on each other. They all sat down for dinner. Booker sat in quiet observation with Shin's hand in his. Shin was quiet with a blush staining his cheeks. It was actually adorable. Shego and Kim were holding hands, too. It was cute. Trin served and as soon as she sat down, Tatsu took her hand.

"So, Shin was telling me about your hover board," Booker said as he mixed his food together.

"Was he? I'm shocked Shin even knows what we're doing. Usually if he can't ruin it, he stops caring," Shego said, which was very true.

"I may have tried the prototype," Shin said. Tatsu blinked. This was both surprising and not surprising. It also explained why he was bothering her about the hover board. He had notes and criticism that he felt needed sharing, but he did not know how to share information like a normal person.

"Of course you did." Kim grinned, but her eyes sparkled with mischief. "How was it?"

"It was awesome!" Shin pumped his fist in the air.

"Until you crashed into the wall," Trin replied.

Shin's mouth dropped open as his eyes went wide. "How did you know?"

"Because Tatsu had to fix the damn hole in the wall!" Trin motioned to the living room with both hands. Tatsu had plastered up the hole and painted over it, but she had not been aware of how it got there. Now that she knew, it made sense.

Shego shook her head as she covered her face with her hand. What were they going to do with Shin? "Do you seriously never clean up after yourself? Clean the crime scene and leave no evidence. Geez. How hard is that?"

"I'm not the planner of the group, obviously," Shin replied.

Shego looked at Booker. "Again, you're dating this guy on purpose?"

Booker smiled, his face soft and his eyes warm. "To be fair, he treated me to a very special Valentine's Day. It was like he tailor-made it for me. He was so thoughtful."

Tatsu would never use that word to describe Shin, but he did something she was interested in. So, now she had to give Shin attention. The horror. "How did it hover?"

Shin's whole face lit up and he threw his hands up again. "Dude, it was amazing!" Shin mimicked an explosion around his head and made an explosion noise.

"How high did go?" Tatsu asked.

"About a foot off the ground before it refused to go any higher."

Tatsu scowled. "I hoped it would get two feet up with someone your height." She needed to work on getting it to be able to do jumps, knowing skateboarders would be all over it if it could do skateboard things and more.

"I tried to kick it up and it wouldn't go with me," Shin said and then he glanced at Trin. For a second, Tatsu was confused why, but realization hit her. This was probably rude to talk about over the dinner table. But, Trin did not say anything.

"Please, continue to talk shop," Kim said with a smile that made her words sincere. "I'm curious how the actual product's going."

"I think we all are," Trin said with a smile at Tatsu.

"Yeah. Even I didn't know you got it to the point it gets that high off the ground," Shego said.

Tatsu shrugged. "I didn't think to tell you because it's not where I want it."

Shego waved her words off. "It's cool. You know what you're doing. I don't expect an update on every little thing."

With a nod, Tatsu turned her attention back to Shin. "Did you crash it trying to go forward or trying to break?"

"Breaking and then I fell off. You need foot grips or something. What happened to being like a snowboard?" Shin inquired.

Tatsu blew out a breath. "I gotta work on the balance for that. The parts aren't fitting the way I want."

"Can we all try the prototype since we now see it'll survive Shin?" Kim asked.

Tatsu shrugged. "I could use the feedback." It would give her a chance to work on a lot of bugs still in the thing, even though at least it hovered now.

"I just vote not in the living room," Trin said.

"Spoken like the only responsible adult we know. Unfortunately, you also change the password to the wifi when we upset you, which negates your adulthood as it's ridiculously childish and petty," Shego replied.

"And this why you don't have the wifi password," Trin said.

Shego arched an eyebrow. "Blondie, I eat your sister out on a daily basis. Do you honestly think I can't get the wifi password out of her?"

"Funny enough, I bribe it out of Tatsu," Kim said.

"Is it the damn pralines?" Trin asked and Tatsu glanced away. Trin scowled and shook her head. "Betrayed for damn pralines and mediocre head."

Shego snorted and she pointed to herself. "My head game is on point."

"And to be fair, the pralines are all from Europe or New Orleans. She always surprises me with the country and type," Tatsu said. When she got hit with the look, she knew she would be in trouble. At least she would get some feedback. "I also share the pralines with you all the time. And if that's not love, what is, right?" She had never heard of a praline until Kim randomly brought some to the apartment one day. Now, they counted as a vice for Tatsu.

Booker giggled. "You guys are all so adorable."

"The human puppy thinks we're adorable." Shego's face twisted in disbelief.

"To be fair, he thinks Shin is adorable, so obviously his perception is a little skewered," Trin said.

"I honestly think your whole situation is adorable and I'm happy you've welcomed me into it. I realize with a group as close as you all are, I could easily come across as an intruder, but you don't make me feel that way," Booker said and the room was silent for several seconds.

"Shin, are you taking notes?" Trin asked with an arched eyebrow. "This is how you don't get kicked out a family gathering."

"Oh, gross!" Shin twisted his face up. "We're a family."

Shego gagged. "That is gross." They all knew it, but they never said it aloud. It seemed like it would crush their groove.

Kim smiled at Booker. "You are welcomed here."

Booker smiled back. "Thank you. I feel like I am, so I know you're not just saying that."

Tatsu smiled as well and reached for Trin's hand. Their group was welcoming, to an extent. Shin had been hostile to her because he feared her stealing Trin, but he also pushed to pursue Trin because she made Trin happy. Tatsu turned to Shin.

"Glad you found someone," she said and she meant it with more than she ever thought she would. Shin only smiled at her.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: the end, of the whole series.


	4. Radiance

I don't own these characters; Disney does. I do own Trin, Shin, Tatsu, Isabel, and Kane.

4: Radiance

Shego blew out a breath and rubbed her forehead. After months of work with only a cruise in between, well and some classic dates, like dinner and movie, it was time for the "Grand Opening" of _Black Dragon_, next generation sports shop. She thought the name was corny, but she did not have a better one and they had a really awesome logo with it, so she let it go. Whenever someone saw either the top or bottom of the hover board, they got to see the Chinese dragon, flashing five claws on each hand.

The website's shop would launch the second they cut the ribbon thanks to Wade. There was a viral video that Shego shelled out a lot of money for, which generated more than enough buzz for a huge crowd to be waiting for the doors to open. It helped that several of the promos featured Kim Possible doing amazing tricks on their product. Kim had gotten really good with the board and had her own custom made one, which Tatsu and the Possible twins tweaked just for Kim.

Family and friends were there to celebrate with Shego and Tatsu. Shego's baby brothers had already pre-ordered their boards and would get them today. The Possible twins did as well along with Ron. Jim and Tim had been rather weird about the boards, insisting Tatsu make theirs without any of their input on the matter. So, they would be surprised and Shego was certain they would love Tatsu's work. Hell, even Wade wanted one and he still did not like to go outside. It was just something about owning a hover board that got to tons of people. Shego understood that. She got one as well.

Shego was dressed in a sharp business suit with a skirt and was posed to cut the ribbon, but she had to yank Tatsu over to her. Tatsu was dressed as professionally as anyone could make her. She wore dark blue slacks with suspenders and a light blue button-down shirt.

"Can you pretend for a second crowds don't freak you out, so we can get this done?" Shego asked through gritted teeth. There were a bunch of cameras around and she did not want to chance anyone filming her being herself at the moment.

Tatsu frowned and looked around. She shook a little, like she was trying to vibrate out of her skin. Even if she managed to get out of her skin, she would then have to shake herself out of her body. "It's not crowds."

It was the attention, Shego knew that. So, she quickly grabbed Tatsu's hand to cut the ribbon. They both kicked the doors open and just like that they were in business. The crowd cheered and rushed in like they were giving away the damned boards. Shego smiled at Tatsu, who almost fell over letting out a long breath.

"Thanks for making it quick," Tatsu said.

"You gotta work on that. People are gonna be interviewing the hell out of you once the boards take off," Shego replied. There were media outlets already trying to schedule interviews with them.

"Why can't you just do it?"

"Because I'm only half of this business. So, suck it up, buttercup. We're going to be talking to people, especially after this." Shego motioned to the controlled chaos around them, as people sampled their wares.

Thank goodness Kim offered to work the register. She was the only one with the positive energy for it. Turned out, Booker also had positive energy for sales and thanks to all his product practice he could show everyone how to use the hover boards without losing his patience with some of the more obnoxious folks. Shin and the twins gave demonstrations in the indoor skate park. Trin had taken it upon herself to explain to people the best protective gear they should purchase and wear when using their hover boards. And, thankfully Anne supervised her, as who knew when Trin's patience would run out or what she might do.

"Is your father falling off the board on purpose?" Tatsu asked Shego as she scanned the busy store. Shego's father was off by the skate park, trying to get on a board… or trying to kill himself.

Shego shrugged. "It could go either way with him. It could also be a tactic to avoid my mother or any one of my brothers could simply be pushing him off."

Tatsu nodded, as if that made sense, which was one of the many things Shego liked about her group of friends. The weirdest things made sense to them and they did not question her over things like her family. Tatsu rubbed her chin. "This is going pretty good, huh?"

Shego looked around, proud of the crowd. "You design a hell of a product." She patted Tatsu on the shoulder.

Tatsu smiled. "You put together one hell of a business."

"So, we're definitely making a good chunk of change by the end of the day and that's without even looking at the numbers on the website. What are you going to do with your cut?"

Tatsu only smiled. Shego knew exactly what Tatsu planned. That would have to wait for the celebration dinner. For the moment, they would enjoy selling some hover boards. And Shego needed to make sure her father did not kill himself on a board. A grin overtook her face as she noticed her twin brothers with Kim's brothers, ripping around the practice park on their boards. There were plenty of other people there, but seeing family was so much better.

"When your father breaks his neck, I'm burying him under your store," Shego's mother said to her.

Shego snorted. "As long as I can resell his board, fine. I wouldn't mind him haunting the place. Just makes it more interesting."

Isabel pursed her lips. "This is some _Star Wars_ thing I don't get?"

"Shh!" Shego put her finger to her lip and frantically looked around. "I'm saving Kim finding about me being a nerd for after we're married, like you and Daddy." She was quite serious about that. She had a reputation to protect for right now.

Isabel nodded and threw her hands up. "Fair enough." She glanced around. "You might be more okay than I was."

Shego smirked and folded her arms across her chest. "I think it's hilarious how you assume you didn't nerd out with us. You knew the ghost thing had to do with _Star Wars_, after all."

Isabel gave her the expected glare. "Don't make me have to ruin your plan and tell Kim about the_ Star Wars_ and the comics."

Shego winced. "Not the comics. She might figure out the D&D stuff next." She had to work her way up to that. _Wow, Kim is really gonna be surprised when I let her see _that_ side of me_. She hoped Kim had some hidden vices or this would be awkward.

Isabel smirked. "Oh, she hasn't found your character sheet yet?"

Shego flinched. "Mommy, stop talking. Right now. Stop talking." Kim was definitely in for a surprise after they got married.

Isabel snickered and then pulled Shego into a one-armed hug around the shoulders. "I'm proud of you for this and for Kim."

Shego smiled. "Screw you, Mommy. I don't need your approval."

"Yet you're standing just a little taller now."

It was true. She tried to relax and stand as she normally would. It was impossible. "Have I mentioned screw you?"

Of course her mother laughed. Shego ignored her and moved on, wanting to see how the place was faring. People were enjoying the boards, but also having fun together. Every piece of the store of being used, from the practice park to the arcade. It was nice. The day passed and eventually they closed the doors for the night. Kim ambushed her with a big hug.

"Shego, this was so awesome! So many boards sold!" Kim kissed her cheek.

"Kinda figured," Shego replied with a nonchalant shrug. She had played it cool all day, but only now did she feel like she could really breathe easy. The shop was definitely a success and she knew Tatsu had other products waiting for release in the next few months. There was a big chance this would not fall apart in front of them.

"Sis, we need, like, ten boards!" her twin brothers seemed to pop up out of nowhere. They each ducked under her arms and attached themselves to her sides, moving Kim out of the way.

Shego groaned. "Your clones don't need boards." She stepped away from them and wrapped her arms around Kim. "And have you bothered to introduce yourselves to my girlfriend, Kim?"

Both of the annoyances had the nerve to scoff and roll their eyes. "We know Kim Possible."

"Yeah, we don't live under rocks."

Shego pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great you know her, but she doesn't know you and I was trying to show her you weren't the rude little bastards you seem, but you blew it. Kim, these are my annoying baby brothers, Wes and Wen. I have them dying first in the family pool."

They laughed. "It's so obviously going to be Daddy."

"Not with the way you two get on my nerves." Shego held up her fist and flared her powers. They could not look less impressed if they tried.

Kim gave Shego that "you know you love you brothers" look that Shego saw more times in her life than she liked. She accepted it from Kim. It helped that she gave Kim the look sometime when she complained about Jim and Tim and Kim found it as irksome as Shego did.

Once everything was secure the large group made their way to a five star restaurant. The Gos were as loud as expected, but the Possibles were right with them, excitement buzzing through the group. Shin and his father seemed to be trying to make everyone even louder.

The host arched an eyebrow to them as soon as they got through the door, especially when Shego's father pushed his way to the front. It never helped a situation that Kane dressed like a hobo about to be chucked out of a rail car. Thankfully, James followed behind him and looked like a professional adult as always. Shinichiro stood behind them, like he was their bodyguard, clearly needing something to do.

"We have a reservation under Possible-Go," Kane said.

The host looked at the whole party as if expecting them to rob the joint. "The DuBois room, correct?"

"Yup!" Kane grinned and gave two thumbs up.

"Daddy, I told you not to do the private room!" Shego hated when her father threw his money around with other people watching. She did not mind his wealth. Hell, she did not mind him spending money on her, but was not a fan flashing the wealth like this.

"Look, we have to fit three families here. It's easier to do the private room," Kane replied.

"Besides, you know your brothers aren't going to get calmer as the night progresses," Isabel said, motioning to the twins. They were in a very animated conversation with Shin.

"And Shin definitely isn't as he gets a couple of drinks," Trin added.

Shego did not argue and they were all shown downstairs to a private room with a large circular table. Before Shego could sit down, a hand on her shoulder yanked her back. She sighed before she even took the culprit in, knowing it could only be her big brother. She could not control her face around him, so her lip curled from muscle memory. Kim looked between them.

"Go grab us some seats, Kimmie. Not next to Shin," Shego said. She just wanted to enjoy what was supposed to be her night. Well, her and Tatsu's night. It would not be possible to do that if she was sitting next to Shin, who seemed to be getting along with her baby brothers a little too well. Mayhem was more than likely on the way. Hego also had the potential to steal her joy right now.

"Understood." Kim trotted off.

Shego folded her arms across her chest as they stepped out of view of the room. She stared up her big brother. They had not exchanged any words today and she would not mind keeping it that way. He was too likely to say something to ruin things for her to want to talk to him. "Yeah, Hego?"

He put his hands in his pants' pockets and smiled at her a little. "Just wanted to say I'm proud of you, not just for stopping being evil, but launching a successful business."

Shego shrugged. "Thanks, I guess." She did not need his approval, but saying so would start an argument. She did not need or want that right now.

Hego frowned at her and squared his shoulders, like he was about to right. "You guess?"

Shego threw her shoulders back. _Who the fuck does he think he is?_ "Hey, I don't owe you."

Isabel swooped in and took Hego by the elbow. "Not today, Hadrian. Today we're celebrating. Come." She pulled him into the room. He looked over his shoulder to scowl at Shego. Shego gave him the finger and he wisely kept on walking.

Shego's shoulders relaxed and she eased over to Kim. The two seats next to Kim were empty. Shego glanced around. No Tatsu. No Trin. _She better not do this without the rest of us_.

"Tats and blondie didn't sneak off to the bathroom, did they?" Shego asked.

"Don't be gross," Kim replied.

Shego gave her a roguish grin. "I didn't mean it like that, so get your mind out of the gutter, Princess. I don't want to miss the show."

Kim arched an eyebrow. "What show?"

Shego waved the question off. "You'll see, Princess. It'll be good." Well, it would be good if Tatsu did not ruin it by doing it where no one would see.

Kim pouted a little. "Just tell me."

"Nope. Promised not to." Shego was confident she could keep the secret until Kim started with damn puppy dog pout. Shego jumped and put her hands up to block her eyes. "Stop, babe! Geez, just trust in the surprise."

Kim laughed. "Fine. You can look now."

Shego peeked over her hand to make sure it was safe to look. "You need to stop using your powers for evil."

Kim laughed and leaned over to kiss Shego's cheek. Shego took her hand and held it tight. After this celebration, Shego led her own little thing planned for her and Kim. A horse drawn carriage ride would be nice for both of them. _Can't beat the classics_.

-8-8-8-8-

Tatsu followed behind Trin as Trin led her outside the restaurant while the rest of their group went to the private room. Tatsu was not sure where they were going or why, but she would follow Trin through the fiery gates of Hell without hesitation. They only went a couple of steps outside before halting. There was a man was not too far from them. Tatsu blinked. She knew him.

"Dad?" Tatsu could not be sure as he looked so much older than she remembered. His tan face had dark, age spots and his goatee had grey hairs in it. There were so many lines under and around his ice blue eyes. But, his eyes were warmer, kinder than she recalled.

"Hey, spud," he said and shrugged his drooped shoulders. He looked a little more put together than she remembered. His shirt had buttons and was clean. The last time she saw him, he had on a t-shirt with yellowed pit stains and ketchup.

Tatsu licked her lips, trying to get her brain to work. "What… what are you doing here?" It was a surprise to see he even existed. She had not imagined having a father? He had definitely been more present in her life than her mother ever had, but after not seeing him for years or hearing from him, she thought of him like a ghost.

He smiled a little and pointed to Trin. "This fancy girl here tracked me down to let me know you had a business opening or something. Making hover boards?"

"Yeah."

His smile grew. "Yeah, she told me you were still taking things apart and tinkering with 'em. Good to know you never listened to me when I told you to stop."

Tatsu's face scrunched up. "Dad?" Okay, he was definitely kinder and softer than he used to be.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "So, I've been sober for a year now. I didn't have many people to make amends to, but I definitely wanted to make them to you. It makes me sick to think instead of spending quality time together when you were in junior high, we'd pound beers together. I'm glad you turned out well in spite of me."

Tatsu's mind could not keep up with this. "Really?" She never thought of her father as a particularly bad person. But, maybe he did owe her an apology. He had not really raised her. Yeah, he was better than her mother, but it was not hard since her mother was certifiable and no one ever got her the help she clearly needed.

"Yeah, you were a good kid. Didn't really cause me no trouble. Didn't hurt nobody or anything. You got dealt shit circumstances, though, and I understand that's on me. You didn't deserve anything you got in that house."

She swallowed down so many emotions, unable to deal with them, label them, or even feel them right now. "You were okay."

He shook his head. "Okay isn't laughing about how my twelve year old daughter can't hold her liquor. I owed you so much more than I gave you. It took me almost dying to realize how messed up I was to myself and you. I'm glad you broke the cycle."

Tatsu ran her hand through her hair. "I don't know what to say." She glanced at Trin, wanting her to tell her what to say. Trin was silent, though.

He raised his hand. "You don't need to say anything. You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, you did things right when you moved the hell out. I wasn't meant to be a father. I could barely take care of myself and your mother was so sick."

"You tried. I had food. Clothes." She patted herself on the chest.

He shook his head. "That ain't trying, spud. That's barely the bare minimum and I damn sure don't want anyone patting me on the back going, 'well, at least the kid ain't dead!' You deserved better and I'm glad you achieved better. Now, I'm gonna let you go since I know you're celebrating."

Tatsu rubbed the back of her neck. "You don't wanna come in?" It seemed like the right thing to offer. She was not sure if she wanted him to accept, though. She was not sure if she wanted him to meet and mingle with her current family.

He gave her a soft smile and she knew she would carry it in her heart forever. "No, no, no. You have fun. Your lady knows how to get in touch with me if you ever wanna talk."

Tatsu nodded, not sure what else to do. Her father put out his hand and she shook it. A yelp escaped her as he yanked her to him and grabbed her into a hug. Her eyes burned as she hugged him back. As they pulled away, she saw a glisten in his eyes, so much like her own.

"Hopefully, I'll hear from you later, kid." He sniffed and started up the block.

No words came for Tatsu, but for once she felt okay with her own silence. Trin took her hand and she pulled Trin to her, wrapping her arm around Trin's waist. They were quiet, watching her father until he was out of sight. Once he was gone, it was like not only did a knot untie itself inside of her, but also like a statue rebuilt itself. She kissed the side of Trin's head.

"How did you know I needed that?" Tatsu asked in a hushed tone.

Trin squeezed her hand. "Because he's your father. No, he wasn't a good one, but he's yours. He shaped you and that's important. Very important."

Tatsu was not sure she totally understood, but Trin had just given her something beyond special and for once she did not have to worry about how she would match this gift for Trin. She simply reveled in.

"Trin," Tatsu said.

"Hmm?"

"You've given me so much in our relationship, even right now something I can't even process. Can you give me one other thing?"

Trin stared into her eyes. "Anything, baby."

Tastu knew that was the truth and it was more than enough to bring her to her knees. Well, one knee anyway. "I would like your hand in marriage. Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Trin actually jumped, yanking Tatsu up from her knee.

Tatsu's heart thumped over how there was no hesitation. Trin just knew. Tatsu grabbed her into a tight hug and a soft kiss on the mouth. Trin smiled against her lips. Tatsu could feel the expression down to her toes. And then Tatsu pulled away.

"Wait! I have a ring!" Tatsu went into her pants pockets. Nothing. Her face fell as annoyance crept through her. "Or Shego stole the ring to make sure I didn't propose without her seeing. Damn it."

Trin arched an eyebrow. "Shego knew you planned to purpose?"

"She was with me when I bought the ring. I saw the perfect ring when we were buying junk for the store." It was serendipity, according to Shego. She was not sure what that meant.

Tatsu held onto Trin's hand and moved back into the restaurant. They sat in the open seats next to Kim and Shego. Tatsu glared at Shego.

"Okay, real funny. Now, give it to me." Tatsu held out her hand.

Shego gave her a half smile. "Give you what?"

Tatsu scowled at her. "You know damn well what. Now, give it me."

Shego rolled her eyes. "What makes you think I have it?"

"Because you wanted to make sure you saw and you know what the hell I'm talking about."

"Yeah, but I didn't take it." Shego blew out a breath and had the nerve to look upset over the accusation.

Tatsu was about to punch the table, but then it hit her. She turned to Shin, who had his hands pressed in front of him like he should her a halo above his head. She growled at him.

"Give it to me," she ordered.

Shin held his hands up in surrender. "I was trying to steal candy at first, honest." He went into his pocket.

"I don't carry candy," she replied. Shego probably put him up to it. She glared at Shego. "You're both children, you know?"

Shego made a face, like she was innocent. "I didn't even do anything."

"Oh, yeah. Shin just happened to look for candy knowing I never have any," Tatsu replied.

Shin snickered. "It was still worth a shot. I peeked." He reached across the table.

"Of course you did." She accepted the little velvet box and popped it open as she twisted her whole body to face Trin. "Believe it or not, I was able to buy this because Shin paid me cash for a board right after I finished the prototype."

"I didn't help on purpose!" Shin insisted. He knew what he was doing, though.

"Of course not," Trin said as she presented her left hand to Tatsu. Tatsu slid the ring on while it seemed like all the air got sucked out of the room in a collective gasp.

A couple of seconds, cheers practically shook the walls. Then there were claps on her back while Trin showed off her ring to Kim. Anne rushed her daughters for a look and they all hugged. Isabel also came over for a look. Tatsu was not surprised when she was yanked into the embrace by Trin's mother. James seemed to appear out of nowhere, joining in on the hug between Tatsu and Anne.

"Now, it's a real celebration!" Shego shot up. "Bring out the champagne I ordered just for the occasion."

"You ordered special champagne?" Tatsu asked.

"You and blondie deserve it. Now, let's really celebrate!"

So, they did. They toasted the engagement. They toasted the business. They toasted their family. They toasted graduations. They toasted every event they could think of. It was pure joy for the whole night.

-Epilogue-

Shego set at her mahogany desk with fading light sprinkling in through her office window. She closed her laptop as she scanned the desk for her phone. It was nowhere to be found. She groaned and rubbed her tired eyes. _Typical_.

"Princess, you seen my phone?" Shego called.

"Yes, the twins had it and they're asleep, so stop yelling through the house before you wake them up," Kim replied as she poked her head into the office. She was twenty-five now. Youthful still, but mature, which was helped by her haircut. And it was hard to believe she gave birth to twins six months ago. She dropped herself into Shego's lap and kissed her while putting the phone on the desk.

"I should start disrupting their sleep like they do ours." Shego chuckled as she placed a hand on Kim's thigh. It was getting back to the firmness from before the twins. She would miss the softness, but she had also missed the muscle. She won and lost.

Kim laughed and ran her hands through Shego's hair. "The second you do, I'm going back to work at the office and you'll be here all day with them."

Shego rolled her eyes. "Back to work? You never left. The day you got back from the hospital, you were doing analysis for GJ. At least I waited a week before checking on _Black Dragon_."

"Because you have Tatsu to make sure everything's running smoothly."

Shego scoffed. "I love that you think that. Tatsu's buried in her workshop inventing actual web slingers thanks to your sister's crazy chemistry making synthetic webbing that's stronger than steel and flexible like thread."

Kim shook her head. "You guys are going to blow minds when that comes out. I'm sure you won't appreciate it like you did those lightsabers, though."

Shego scoffed. "You say that like you didn't have a lightsaber fight with me. It's on YouTube and everything." She could not hide the fact that she was a comic nerd or _Star Wars_ nerd as almost everything Tatsu came up with now was some sci-fi or fantasy thing Shego used to imagine in her childhood. Everyone they knew loved to play with Tatsu's inventions and Shego was far from an exception now.

Kim kissed her chin. "Couldn't pass up that chance. Hell, even Trin got in on that."

"No one believed the dark side wore pink." They both laughed at that.

"Is Wade done with his thing?"

Shego nodded. "Hit the shelf yesterday. He's going to have to watch the website, so it doesn't crash like last time when we had a new release. I'm glad Joss stayed on as manager for the store. Me and Tatsu should take a trip down there soon."

"I'll come. Mom will be here to watch the babies."

"Provided blondie doesn't want to come and leave her pair with Anne."

"I would say Shin and Booker can watch them, but I'm pretty sure Shin is the reason Kent keeps trying to mix the chemicals under the sink. How can he be almost thirty and not know you shouldn't encourage a five-year-old to play with stuff under the sink?"

"Let's just hope Shin doesn't decide he wants kids and he uses the same adoption agency. They might assume he's okay because of Tats and blondie."

Kim grimaced. "We will not be character witnesses for that, even though Booker would make a great dad."

"Oh, please, he'd take off of work just like you did, which is not really, which admittedly is better than Shin, who'd take the kid to work and probably leave the kid by an open flame."

"Speaking of all of them, you want to go to Trin and Tatsu's for dinner? The twins wiped me out today and you had video meetings all day."

Shego did not have time to do much beyond stay in her office and not get enough sun today. "Sounds good, as long as she's not still pissed we didn't make it for breakfast. I don't want to hear her mouth about it. Sometimes, I wanna cook for my own family."

Kim smiled. "I think she finally got that point. She wasn't pissed when she called."

"For the first time in forever."

"She likes cooking for people. You know that's her thing."

"That doesn't make it less annoying when she acts like you shot her in the knee because we want to enjoy a meal at home every now and then."

Kim did not argue. There were times when Kim wanted to be with their little family, just like Shego. There were also times they just did not want to leave the house, even if it was to go across the street. Shego knew Trin understood that, but liked to be annoying, so they had to put up with her acting insulted when they did not show up at her house for meals.

Kim and Shego had an hour of downtime before the twins woke up. They dressed the babies and took the trip across the street to the large colonial house, which was very similar to theirs. Shego nudged a tricycle out of the otherwise clear, stone walkway. Kim let them in the house with her keys, where they were greeted by the smell of dinner and the gradually increasing sound of footsteps. Kent hit Shego at the knees seconds late.

"Auntie Shego! Auntie Kim!" Kent squeezed, little fingers digging into Shego's knee pit. "Come see my helicopter! I made it myself!"

"You sure Mama didn't help you just a little bit?" Kim asked.

Kent closed one eye. "Maybe a little."

"Well, I can't see anything until I get someone to come take this baby from me," Shego said and Trin practically appeared in front of her. Trin and the baby were gone just as fast. Shocking to find Trin loved children and babies.

"Payton, come sit with Mommy and your cousin," Trin said, going into the living room. Shego and her family followed. Kent took Shego's hand, tugging her past the living room to the dining room.

"See my helicopter." Kent grabbed the silver tinker toy from the table. "Mama made it actually fly."

Shego glanced over the partial wall to Tatsu. Tatsu was in an armchair, the same chair that used to sit in Trin and Shin's apartment. With Tatsu, little three year old Payton curled into her chest. Tatsu had her head shaved in support of Payton, who had a brain tumor a year ago. That was also when Trin and Tatsu adopted Payton, a child no one wanted, thinking she would die. They had snatched Payton up, planning to love her for the rest of her life, which would be long now thanks to her grandma Anne. Payton's tumor was gone and her hair was growing back as her health improved. Better for her still, her mother and Uncle Shin had used their genius powers for good and helped make breakthroughs in many medications, including improving white blood cell counts.

"Payton's on her way to sleep," Tatsu told her wife.

Trin pouted. "She'll miss her cousins." She turned her attention back to her niece and smiled down at the baby.

"Trin, you want me to set up while you enjoy your niece?" Booker asked, pointing to the dining room.

"Please? Thank you for being helpful, unlike your husband," Trin said.

Shin held up his hand. "To be fair, I didn't show Kenny how to make a soda bomb yet. So, I helped in my own way." None of them argued that logic.

Booker set the table. Shego set up the twins' high chairs. Everyone else pulled out a chair. Payton popped up for food. She sat on Trin's lap while Kent sat by Shego, talking her ear off about his helicopter. The twins were in a playpen in the dining room, having bottles.

They led a typical family dinner, as they had most days. Sometimes, the Possible twins popped up. Occasionally, Shego's brothers showed up, most often the twins, but Mego was in their lives more frequently with the birth of their nieces. Parents came through often, wanting to see grandbabies more often than not, even Tatsu's father. It was nice, even when Middleton was not sometimes. It was easy to block out the world with this wonderful family, though.

-8-8-8-8-

The end.

Thank you all for reading this story. Special thanks to my beta reader again, Sydney. I hope you enjoyed this short trip back into the Pariah universe with me. I hope you all continue to read and enjoy my work. Please, if you like my work, go check out my books available on Amazon, under the name S.L. Kassidy. Please, come say hi to me on Facebook. Back to my padded cell with me.


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